Sunday, 27 April 2014

My first attempt on making Swiss roll. It is so easy and it can be done in less than an hour.

My daughter brought back some London rolls and asked me to make something similar. The London rolls had strawberry fillings. I don't have strawberries or strawberry jam on hand, so I have to make other filling. The only one I can think of is buttercream.

Wednesday, 23 April 2014

On April Fools' Day, we bought an air fryer from Philips (via Courts). We were at Westgate and there was a promotion on Philips Viva Collection Airfryer. This is the old model, with manual temperature and timer dials. It was selling at S$409 previously and now the promotion was at S$229 with free gifts. My wife wanted to buy one but the S$400+ price was not within our budget. However, since it was almost half price now, she thought why not getting one to try. I was a bit skeptical at first and thinking that a normal electrical oven can do the grill and frying. My wife insisted and anyway, she paid for it. We got a kettle too at S$59 since the normal price is S$69.

The free gifts were a ceramic knife and 4 cutting boards (with labels for different type of raw food). They will be useful when we want to separate the vegetable with raw meat.

Well, we were excited and I went to NTUC to buy a piece of marinated Cajun boneless chicken thigh. We placed the meat into the basket and set 180 deg C for 15minutes. Half way through, I opened the drawer and moved the thigh a bit and closed the drawer. At the end of the cooking cycle, I opened the drawer and took out the thigh. It was not bad but we felt that the marinate could be better. However, it was still great. We didn't put any oil on the meat and at the end of the cycle, you can see the amount of oil from the meat at the pan. I must say that we were shocked that the meat itself contained quite a lot of oil/fats.

For this type of air fryer, I would recommend that the food to be consumed while it was warmed/hot. It will be a bit dry if it is left for quite some time.

Another thing, I would recommend that you brush a bit of oil onto the net in the basket. This will make the washing and cleaning easier. After the cooking, wait till the basket and pan have cooled down, pour some soapy water into the pan with the basket still attach to it. Soak them for a while (say 1 hr), then you can get rid of the skin/flour from the net easily.

Monday, 21 April 2014

I have always enjoyed jogging (at my own pace) for many months along the Park Connector (PCN) in my neighbourhood. However, I felt that the amount of pollutants emitted from the vehicles that were running alongside with the PCN could be damaging to my lungs. Normally, I will jog around 5-6pm and this period, the traffic is quite heavy along the PCN.

I realised that there is a stadium (Bukit Gombak Stadium) near my house (10mins walk) and I have failed to use it for almost 6 years. The stadium is on an elevated land (almost as high as the platform of the Bukit Gombak MRT station). The air is fresh and hardly any air pollutants there except the haze.

The first time I went there last week, it was cloudy and there were a few thunders rattling in the background. I didn't care and went to the stadium to jog. When I jogged into the stadium onto the track, I realised that no one was on the track, there were quite a number of people on the stand. Suddenly, someone started that I should get off the track as the alarm (a red light high up on a notice board) had been activated. I was embarrassed and quickly jogged out of the stadium from the side gate. So, next time, when it is cloudy and there are thunders in the background. I will not jog there.

The second time was on last Saturday. Good weather and I managed to complete 4.5km on the track. Feeling fantastic because the air that I breathe in will be much cleaner as compared with the pollutants from the vehicles that most joggers breathe in. I think when we wanted to keep healthy, the air quality in the exercising environment is the most important. We take more deep breathes during exercising and it is crucial that we are not taking in more pollutants.

After the jog, I will slowly cool myself down by walking back and go the the public fitness station for further workout.

Sunday, 13 April 2014

This is my second time trying out the croissant recipe. Of course, I have tweaked the recipe and managed to get as close to what is expected. Flaky on the outside, moist on the inside. I realized that I may have make an extra turn (folds) and that may have made the butter too thin. Another thing I had used salted butter which made the croissant a bit salty. My wife ate the croissants. Her comments are that they are very close to the taste and texture of those from the bakery store but slightly salty. Overall, it is still a success. After watching a couple of YouTube videos on how to prepare the layered dough, I think I will be able to make better croissant next time, stay tuned to my blog.